What's in a Kiss?
by LadyBauer
Summary: Clint arrives home from a mission and walks into a whole lot of trouble. What does a kiss mean to you? A discussion between BlackHawk - rated for language and some mild sexual references. I hope you like it, remember reviews love! Enjoy!


**Just a short babble that came to mind. (rated to be safe for language). Hope you like.**

Thor strode purposefully out of the elevator on Clint Barton's floor and was surprised to see Steve Rodgers and Tony Stark coming back the other way shaking their heads at him.

"Ahh, my friends, the voice tells me that Agent Barton has returned from his mission?" Thor said giving them both a slap on the back making the two mortal men wince in pain. By the voice he meant JARVIS who he still hadn't quite gotten used to as yet.

Tony chuckled and folded his arms across his faded Ramones T-Shirt, "well yeah but I wouldn't go in there right now buddy."

Thor frowned, "But he said that he would give me an archery lesson, I would like to learn how to use the bow and arrow." He said excitedly. Clint had been giving Steve archery lessons for some time and listening to Steve talk animatedly about it, as he always did about trying new things, made Thor want to try as well. Clint had agreed of course but had then been called to an important mission.

It was now three weeks later and Thor was as impatient as ever. "Yeah, we had been um heading up to say welcome back and there seems to be someone in there with him already…you know…" Steve said blushing furiously and looking at his shoes.

"What Capsicle is trying to say is that we think Natasha beat us to it and she's welcoming him home in her own special way so if you want to live long enough to get those archery lessons I suggest you retreat with us, okay slugger?" Tony said almost in one breath as he breezed into the elevator.

Flush now rose at Thor's cheeks as he hastily joined his comrades in the elevator.

Meanwhile in Clint's apartment….

Clint was breathing heavily as he looked at her, this was not what he'd had in mind when she burst through the door and jumped into his arms like a giddy teenager not 10 minutes ago. Now she was standing with her back to him seemingly afraid to look at him in case she couldn't fight the urge to snap his neck.

Honesty his ass, he thought to himself.

"You can be a real jerk you know that Barton?" Natasha said through gritted teeth, still with her back to him.

"Me? Jeez, I'm only obeying a rule of our relationship which you made up!" He said gesturing wildly with his hands. He had long since stopped trying to lower his voice - he was pissed.

She turned on her heel, her eyes flashing as Clint sub consciously took a step back from her. He knew that look all too well.

"Well I didn't think you were going to be so damned honest about it! You couldn't have just lied to me?" She said doing the same thing with her hands to stave off the urge to take a swing at him.

Clint sighed at her, "I didn't know telling you the truth was the wrong thing to do!" He turned away from her with his hands rubbing over his tired face roughly.

He had been travelling for almost a day, not to mention the fatigue he felt from the mission and now he'd walked into a fight with his girlfriend because he'd opened his big mouth. He sat down on the edge of the sofa and sighed again. He took a few deep breaths to try to calm down.

"I don't understand why you're so mad so why don't you tell me? I'm too tired or probably too stupid to figure it out on my own so please give me a clue here." He pleaded with her despairingly.

When he looked up at her after saying that he was taken aback to see that the rage in her eyes had mostly been replaced by tears now. Her hands were clasped together in front of her as she wrung them over and over again nervously. This was something he'd never seen before - she was truly upset.

"You kissed her. You kissed her." She said softly, wiping a few escaped tears away furiously with the back of her hand.

"Yeah, we were supposed to be playing husband and wife so I kissed her a few times." Clint said bewildered. He had been on assignment with Agent Hill in Argentina, they were playing an arms dealer and his wife and had to be seen at a few parties with the mark before they made their move.

Natasha had been recovering from some broken ribs sustained in their last mission together so Hill had been chosen to go with Barton instead.

"A few times!" Natasha exclaimed in renewed fury, "Like how many is a few and did you…you know use your tongue?" Natasha rolled her eyes as that last question came out of her mouth - what was she a high school cheerleader worrying about her quarterback boyfriend?

Clint felt himself starting to sweat, this was far from Natasha in interrogation mode but damn she was making him feel like a terrorist or something. He wanted to tell her she was being silly, that she was all he wanted but he had a feeling any attempt to hug her right now would lead to bloodshed….his to be precise.

"No I did not use my tongue," He said running a hand through his hair. "At a pinch I'd have to say maybe we kissed three or four times ok?" He stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Natasha…what's really bothering you here?" Clint said carefully. "We didn't have sex. In the suite we were sharing she slept in the bed and I slept on the floor." He explained.

Natasha puffed out a breath and turned away from him again, "That's not why I'm pissed you idiot."

"God damn it Natasha, now I'm exhausted and I'm getting the third degree because I told you that Hill and I kissed. As you will recall you said that I'm supposed to tell you stuff like that. Stuff that happens on a mission and you said you'd do the same now what the HELL is going on?"

Clint had enough of being calm about this - he crossed the room in two strides and grabbed her roughly by the arms forcing her to look at him.

"TELL ME NOW!" Clint was so angry he even scared her a little bit. She rarely saw him like this - he was the calm one. The one that would rather go beat on a punch bag or go for a run rather than raise his voice.

"I'd rather you had fucked her, you know that? It wouldn't have hurt me nearly as much as thinking about you kissing her!" Natasha said as he relaxed his grip on her in shock. She shrugged out of his arms and sat down on the sofa. Exhausted from her revelation that had really been as much of a surprise to her as it had clearly just been to Clint who was still frozen to the spot.

Natasha began to sob into her hands as he came back to reality. He sat down beside her and took one of her hands gently in his, instantly ashamed of the way he'd just manhandled her. But damn if she didn't make him so mad….

"Tasha," he whispered in a broken whisper.

"Don't say my name like that, it makes it very hard for me to be mad at you." She said honestly, squeezing his hand lightly.

"Tell me." He urged her gently.

"Anybody have sex, it can be as meaningless as you want it to be. I know that better than anyone." She said momentarily ashamed of that statement even though it was a fact which he had known already.

"I remember the first time you kissed me. Really kissed me," she continued in the softest tone of voice he had ever heard come out of her mouth.

"And every time since it's been the same. You take my face in your hands so that I'm looking into your eyes and you pull me gently in towards you…" She turned slightly to face Clint now.

"And the look that you give me just before our lips touch…" Natasha bit her lip as Clint softly caught a tear falling down her soft cheek.

"It makes me feel so special Clint, you'll never know.." She began so sob again as he folded her into his arms gently.

He stroked her hair as her petty jealousy and insecurities soaked his t-shirt. He chuckled gently, "Oh baby, don't you know by now the way I feel about you?"

She moved against him so that she could look him in the eye as he cradled her in his arms.

"Natasha, I love you. I know that you've never kissed anyone the way that you kiss me and that makes me feel honoured. I have no intention of ever kissing any other girl in that way." He admitted in a soft voice that squeezed Natasha's heart tightly.

He moved to get up and pulled her with him so that they were standing face to face in the plush living area of his quarters in he Avengers Tower.

He took a tissue from the box on the table and gently wiped the tears from her face as she sighed at his touch. Then, drawing her against him and as if to illustrate his feelings in a way she'd understand, he took her face in his rough hands circling his thumbs on her damp cheeks.

Everything in the room together with her anger disappeared until it was just them. He inched towards her and gave her the look apparently he gave her at this point. He hadn't been aware of any kind of look previously so he just did what he always did. His lips were millimetres away from hers when she breathed, "Oh Clint, I love you so much."

That did it for him - he closed the tiny gap between them and captured her mouth in a searing kiss that seemed to burn her sensitive skin. She could not believe how easily this man could render her like this. If he'd let her go right now she'd probably drop to the floor because her legs were like jelly.

When they broke apart, gasping for air, foreheads resting against each other he smiled shyly at her. "Now that I've declared my undying love for you Ms Romanoff, I'll be taking you to bed."

He scooped her up in his arms as she squealed in surprise.

"I do believe that was our very first fight - well in a relationship sense anyway. So we're going to make up - a lot." He said kissing her cheek and carrying her to his bedroom.

Archery lessons for all were on hold….indefinitely.


End file.
